June 2009
Give Me Liberty Or...
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Elder Charles Moore
As he tried to convince others
to fight for our nation’s
freedom Patrick Henry
proclaimed. “Is life so dear or
peace so sweet as to be
purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? Forbid it,
Almighty God. I know not
what course others may take,
but as for me, give me liberty
or give me death!” These
words resound with great
meaning for us as Americans;
especially at this time of year,
when we celebrate our liberty
as a nation.
For Patrick Henry there
were only two options liberty
or death. And in a very real
sense, there are only two
options available for human
kind. You see, in the spiritual
realm there are only two
choices. The first choice is
spiritual liberty. The second
choice is spiritual death. All
people everywhere will be
placed in one of these two
categories. They are either
spiritually alive or spiritually
dead. The good news is that
God has opened the way to
liberty for us all. This is the
message of independence that
the world so desperately
needs to hear. It is good news
in a world filled with bad
news. The good news is
that Jesus Christ suffered
death so we could enjoy
life. He endured death so
we could enjoy liberty.
The good news begins
with talk about death. That
seems like a strange place
to begin. But we are not
talking about the reality of
death in general, but the
specific death of a real
Person. “But God
demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners,
Christ died for
us.” (Romans 5: 8) The
good news is about the
death of Jesus. The Gospel
teaches that Jesus gave
His life for us, by dying in
our place and for our
benefit.
There are three
questions that we may
answer by looking at His
life that was given for us.
The first question is
"Why?" Why did Jesus give
His life for us? He gave His
life because He loves us
and the cross
demonstrates that
magnitude of the love God has
for us.
The second question is
"When?" When did Jesus give
His life for us? Now we are
not talking about a date and
time but our condition. The
answer is found in Romans 5:8
and 10. When did Jesus give
His life for us? 8. While we
were still sinners… 10. …
while we were God's
enemies. In other words,
Jesus’ love is so broad that it
reaches even to His enemies.
That was our position. And the
fact that Jesus gave His life
for us while we were God's
enemies indicates the
unlimited nature of His love.
The final question is "How?"
How did Jesus give His life
for us? “Since, therefore,
we have now been justified
by his blood, much more
shall we be saved by him
from the wrath of
God.” (Romans 5: 9) When
we talk and sing about the
blood of Christ, we are not
trying to be ghoulish or gross.
The blood of Christ
symbolizes His life poured out
to save us from the wrath of
God. It reminds us that He
gave everything, He gave His
life. Jesus’ salvation may be
free to us but it cost God
dearly. Our salvation cost God
the death of His Son and He
did it because He loves us.
(Continued on page 2)
Page 2
Not only does the Gospel teach that Jesus gave
His life for us, it also teaches that Jesus gives
His life to us. We are told, “For if while we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God through the
death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life.” (Romans 5:10)
Jesus not only died but He rose again. He was
not simply a martyr. He did not merely die for a
cause. He did not simply die to give us an example
of sacrificial love. He rose again in order to do a
powerful work in our lives. Jesus lives in order to
live in us! His life becomes our life. He not only
dismisses the charges against us, He takes up His
residence in us in order to empower us to live our
lives in new ways.
This is what the Bible refers to as being saved.
You see, Christ lives in order to save us
completely. Salvation, you see, is an ongoing
process that begins when we are reconciled to
him, and continues until we are fully saved. Don't
misunderstand this. I am not saying that you may
not stay saved once you are saved. We are not
talking about the security of your salvation, only
the process. You see, there are three stages of
salvation. Let's look at them briefly.
The first stage is justification. What happens
when we are justified? Through justification we
are liberated from the penalty of sin. When we
are justified, our sinful record is cleared. All
charges against us are dropped. We are forgiven.
The righteousness of Christ is credited to our
account. The penalty of sin is satisfied.
Justification puts us on the road for the other
two stages.
The second stage of salvation is sanctification.
Sanctification is the stage where God begins to
work in our lives, to change the kind of people we
are here on this earth. Through sanctification we
are liberated from the power of sin. As we seek to
live in obedience to God and His Word, we are
transformed into people who act more and more
like Jesus. The power of sin over our lives is
broken as this new life begins to emerge. And the
more closely we follow Jesus, the less influence
sin has over us.
The third stage of salvation is glorification.
Glorification is something we have to look forward
to in the future. The Bible teaches that one day
we will be liberated from presence of sin. It is the
day when Jesus Christ returns to bring all of
history to a conclusion.
Cont. on page 3
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June raced in and out so fast that I am still trying to
catch it. School was getting out one day and camp
starting the next. We all arrived safely at camp and
dived in to enjoy each activity. My area is cooking so
camp consists of 16 meals and each one is ticked off
until we are through and packing to go home. We had
good help this year as always and it kept me hopping to
keep all of the kitchen folk busy. We try to prepare
the food in the morning and then take about 3 hours in
the afternoon for a much needed nap or swim. Our
church’s heartfelt thanks go out to each of you—we
could not get along without any one of you! Quite a few
of our staff are former campers and we love having
them there. One such staffer is Trent Begeman, who
headed up KP and did a terrific job. You taught him
well, Ruth! (Tommy Begeman, 9 years old, was overheard saying “I like that big guy!”)
As usual we had our outlying folks in abundance helping us in every activity to keep camp going. I cannot tell
you how much of a miracle camp is. Each year we have
the same dilemmas as we do not know how many campers we will have, how much staff we will have and if
every area of camp’s jobs is filled until noon of the
first day of camp. This can be hard on Director Tim
Begeman and Secretary Diane. Campers start arriving
at 2:00 and by suppertime, we begin camp! The food is
prepared also without knowing exact numbers in advance, and God surely takes over in that department.
We had very few leftovers and yet everyone had
plenty! We fed about 140 people per meal! There are
some contests during the week—who can eat the most
pancakes? The most hotdogs? The most bowls of potato soup? These are between campers and we find
out the results by rumor.
Ruth Charles missed camp for the first time in the
camp’s 59 years of existence. David and Ruth could not
get up from Florida in time this year as they had some
commitments there with doctors. We missed you, Ruth,
but your influence was there. You have surely paid your
dues, thanks once more for all those years of service
to both you and David. Camp is a big tribute to the organization back in the early 1950’s. David was on that
early committee who dreamed it up and started this
enormous undertaking and wonderful outreach.
That is all for this month, I just want to give all the
praise to God for his miraculous leading and protection
during 59 years of youth camp. Praise the Lord!
Page 3
Michigan Report
Ashley Begeman’s graduation from Ida High School
was celebrated with a party at Mike and Gemma Begeman’s the following Sunday. She is working for Subway
until she starts school at Tiffin University in Ohio,
where she will also play volleyball. Congratulations
Ashley!
Charlie and I attended the Detroit Rescue Mission
Ministries’ 100th anniversary dinner at the Detroit
Athletic Club and were privileged to be accompanied
by guests Dale and Geneva Begeman and Dave and
Terrie Fedor. I was shocked that at the dinner where
I was also named ‘employee of the century” oops
‘employee of the year’.
Youth camp was a delight this year. The work of
camp begins well in advance. Diane Begeman reported
how much she enjoyed calling staff references of people she doesn’t already know, such as Jeff Begeman’s
former co-worker, now in Maryland, whose wedding
they recently attended. This year, Kathy Smeltzer
organized folks to loan their ‘easy to read’ spare Bibles for the week for campers to use in Bible study
classes.
We were happy to have 85 campers this summer, our
theme was “Objects that Talk” about the gospel.
These included a light, food, tools for building a
house, animals, and clothing. Lloyd Smith visibly illustrated these with his morning devotion presentations
as a miner, chef, construction worker, shepherd and
wearer of the strangest “This will satisfy Christians
of ANY persuasion” outfit. Pastor Moore gave an altar
call and it was wonderful to see those who came forward to commit and recommit their lives to Jesus. The
Give Me Liberty Or…
Aurine Moore
camp wrap up meeting gave a wonderful review of
songs and lessons led by teachers Kathy Smeltzer, Kay
Nevil, Rob Vaughn, Doug Vaughn and Joe Smeltzer.
Our very own Tommy Begeman was voted camper of
the year and Alyssa Riddle was voted counselor of the
year.
The following week’s service was a wonderful and
eventful Sabbath service. Branden Carothers, who had
accepted the altar call invitation at youth camp, was
baptized and also asked for and received the right
hand of fellowship into our local church. Then, daughters Klohie and Zohlie, were dedicated by him and Jamie. The service ended with communion, all on the
same day!
Aside from all of these scheduled church happenings, life went on with interesting things. Marshalla
and Jamesha Goins took time out for Jamesha’s 5 kilometer race. She finished and it was a victorious experience. Nate and Joel Valentine travelled together
to hear the Oakridge Boys at Renfro Valley. Gabe Vargas accepted the Variety Time challenge and played
“When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Swing Low
Sweet Chariot” on his saxophone. Marcia Moore had a
lot of illness this month – including an enlarged pancreas and breathing problems but she made it to
church yet again. Diane Begeman has been watching
Book TV with husband Tim and gave us an update on a
new book about Harry Truman. Carrie Smeltzer has
taken her boards and is very noticeably relaxed!
We’re glad she is able to take a little time out before
starting her internship.
Until next month, may God be with you and you with
God.
cont from page 2
That is when we will be changed, as the Bible tells us,
in the twinkling of an eye. Our weak, scarred mortal
body will be exchanged for an immortal one. We will
be glorified and that is when we will finally comprehend the fullness of what has been done for us. That
is when we will be totally saved. Of course, the good
news is that God has begun this work in us, He will
never quit until it is fully accomplished.
The price of freedom has always been death. Patriots won our nation's freedom by giving their lives to
secure it. Many over the years have given their lives
to preserve it. Jesus died so we could live and not die.
True liberty can only be found in Jesus but there’s
more to follow.
WE’VE UPDATED THE CHURCH WEBSITE.
CHECK IT OUT.
COLORNET.ORG
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CHURCH OF THE
LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS
1922 LaSalle Road
Monroe, MI 48162
Church 734.242.9511
Editor – Jamie Carothers
[email protected]
Publisher – Diane Begeman
734.269.6098
[email protected]
website
colornet.org
Bad Facts
These responses actually appeared on real science tests. All were marked wrong:
"The pistol of a flower is its only protection against insects."
"Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas."
"H20 is hot water, and CO2 is cold water."
"To collect fumes of sulfur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube."
"Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes and caterpillars."
"To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose."
"The alimentary canal is located in the northern part of Indiana."